Yanma

It shares both types, the Speed Boost Ability and the habit of never staying still for a turn with Ninjask, but the resemblance ends there. Ninjask is a cicada fresh from moulting; this is an adult dragonfly, and a big one at that: 1.2 metres and 38 kilos of red insect with four transparent wings and two eyes that take up half its head.

Those eyes are the design’s main point. The Pokédex entries insist that its field of vision is 360° without needing to turn its head, so it can detect what is behind it just as easily as what is in front of it. Its official category, the Clear Wing Pokémon, points to the other half: it flies with sudden stops and mid-air changes of direction, then drops onto its prey from above. When it flaps its wings at full speed, it generates shock waves powerful enough to shatter nearby windows, which is the only entry where the bug comes across as annoying rather than decorative.

It is the base form of a two-stage line. Above it is Yanmega, and getting from one to the other depends on a specific move rather than a level, something that did not exist yet in the second generation.

390 points spread out with one standout figure: 95 Speed. Next come 75 Special Attack, 65 HP and 65 Attack, followed by the real problem, 45 Defense and 45 Special Defense. Anything that hits it does damage.

Speed Boost raises its Speed at the end of every turn, so if it survives two rounds, nothing faster is left on the field. The important detail is that “if”. With 45 in both defenses and no useful resistances, the courtesy turn does not always arrive. Its second Ability, Compound Eyes, improves Accuracy and makes Hypnosis (Lv.38) and Supersonic (Lv.22) less random than they are on any other Pokémon. Frisk, its Hidden Ability, lets it read the opposing Pokémon’s held item and nothing more.

On the offensive, Bug and Flying complement each other well: Bug Buzz and Air Slash cover a good part of the Pokédex between them. The price is its defensive profile. Rock deals quadruple damage, and it also stacks weaknesses to Fire, Electric, Ice and Flying, meaning half the game threatens to knock it out in one hit.

It is not a competitive Pokémon, and the reason is not just the stat sheet: its two best Special attacks, Air Slash and Bug Buzz, arrive at levels 54 and 57, and by then nobody keeps an unevolved Yanma around. Where it does the job is halfway through a normal playthrough, between the second and third Gyms, with U-turn (Lv.49 or by TM) to hit and switch out, and Hypnosis to put to sleep anything it cannot take down.

Bug Egg Group and nothing else, which cuts down the list of possible partners quite a bit. The sex ratio is perfectly even: 50 % female. Its 20 Egg Cycles work out to about 5355 steps, neither particularly fast nor particularly slow.

Three moves can come from the Egg: Whirlwind, Double-Edge and Feint. Double-Edge is also available by TM, so the two that really matter are Feint, thanks to its priority, and Whirlwind, if anyone feels like playing around with the opponent’s Accuracy.

Evolution is the noteworthy part. Yanma evolves into Yanmega when it levels up while knowing Ancient Power, which it learns naturally at level 33; just let it learn the move and give it one more level. Anyone who rejects it at the time will have to recover it from the Move Reminder, because no TM teaches it.

Its habitat is the forest. A catch rate of 75 puts it in the middle range: it will not fall into the first Poké Ball like an early-route Pokémon, but it does not demand the ritual of weakening, putting it to sleep and praying that Pokémon with catch rates of 45 or 30 require, either. Wild specimens may be holding a Wide Lens, and defeating one awards one Speed effort point.